The New York Mets are accustomed to injuries. But to lose the best pitcher in all of baseball in Jacob deGrom, much less on April Fool's Day, is just some, twisted joke.
With Opening Day less than a week out, deGrom's set to miss significant time due to a stress reaction in his right scapula, per Jeff Passan. The ace will be shut down for four weeks, then re-evaluated after.
The 33-year-old was the favorite at +250 to win NL Cy Young less than a month ago at PointsBet. Once the news dropped, he plummeted to 33-1 at the same shop.
Teammate and right-hander Max Scherzer moved into the favorite role, priced at +450.
The Mets' World Series odds, meanwhile, didn't budge off 14-1.
New York's fresh off a season in which it lost the second-most man games due to injury (more than 2,500) in the entire league, behind only San Diego.
deGrom, a two-time Cy Young winner and strikeout leader, was among the laundry list of Mets to hit the shelf in 2020. He made only 15 starts before being shut down with elbow soreness and forearm tightness.
New York was also second in the majors in WAR lost due to injury at 16.24, behind the White Sox.
After Scherzer, it's Milwaukee's Corbin Burnes (+550), L.A.'s Walker Buehler (+800), Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler (+1000) and Milwaukee's Brandon Woodruff (+1000) in the NL Cy Young pecking order.
New York opens the season Thursday, April 8, against the Washington Nationals.
